Climbing The Mount Everest : Exploring the Journey of Indian Women Leaders

Abstract

The women leadership in India can be traced back to the era when women like Begum Razia Sultan (1236) and Rani Lakshmibai (1857) had proved to excellent leaders. In industry, the women leadership started with family owned business where the leadership qualities were inborn and the women in the family were integrated in their own businesses. Times have changed and women leadership is taking a new shape. However, their progression in senior executives and leadership roles is sluggish. A report by Catalyst Inc. shows that for there are only 24% women in the pipeline (Entry to Manager/Director), 21% are currently occupying the positions of Managers/Directors, 19% are Senior Managers whereas only 14 % in the roles of Executive Officers in India. Women are less probable to be promoted up the ladder of leadership than men are, despite of the rise in women in the workplace^.[1] [2] .Though facts reveals that the ratio of women in management is increasing, prejudice regarding the leadership skills and abilities of women still exist.The important thing is that only reaching at the top somehow is also not enough.

According to Tannen (1990) [3] “The road to leadership and power is tough for women, and even if they reach there it's a bed of thorns”. However, getting at the leadership position is the first important step. The purpose of the research study is to explore the personality traits possessed by successful women leaders and to determine the challenges women leaders experience most in their today’s corporate work life. Women have been struggling through ages to climb up to the leadership positions. Some women have been successful in breaking all the barriers and shown their mark as successful leaders, but there is still a long way to go, and specifically when the question is of women occupying the highest levels  of management. In Indian context, the problem is more severe. Indian working women are expected to perform dual roles. They should not only adhere to expectations as homemaker, but also perform as an employee. Although the field is attracting an increased practitioners’ interest, still there is scarcity of academic research in this area, specifically from the Indian perspective. Thus, the central question is: What are commonalities in the path of Indian women attaining leadership positions? How do Women leaders in India describe their leadership experiences? What were their experiences about leadership development, and in what context? The study applied the theory of intersectionality for analysing the success of the selected women leaders. A term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, (1991), intersectionality is rooted in the discrimination faced by black women in the United States. Crenshaw argued that black women are marginalised not because they are black or they are women but because they are black women. Intersectionality refers to the collective effect of different identity dimensions—race, sex, gender, class, position, sexuality or age—on the way women experience the world. The topic was explored using the lens of descriptive phenomenological method.

The study will help in changing the mindset of the society at large. The study has implications for the concerned academic authority to create a conducive environment to encourage women participation in leadership positions and voicing their opinions overtly, especially from the perspective of their intersectional identities. The study provided valuable insights into the factors and strategies contributing to the professional advancement of women leaders in Indian academia. It would also reinforce the fact that diversity and advancement of women represent an opportunity which organization cannot afford to ignore.